Leopard Trail Golden Tickets -Why would we do this?

Issuing 10 Limited edition Golden Tickets is an amazing opportunity for ten hiking enthusiasts, families or hiking groups. The ticket holders will have 10 years of free hikes, and VIP access to bookings on the trail before the bookings are even open to the public. And we are offering the Golden Tickets at a price that works out at a 78% discount!

So why are we doing this?

Well, we received really fantastic news recently – confirmation that the Leopard Trail will receive overnight huts for hikers!

This means we are really close to getting the Leopard Trail, and all the community projects linked to it, completely up and running!

You may not be aware that the Leopard Trail is a project of the Another Way Trust (AWT). The AWT is a charity that does community development work in the Baviaanskloof. The Leopard Trail was the brainchild of the Trust in 2015, looking to drive employment in the area and create a sustainable source of funding for the trust’s community development work going forward. The Eastern Cape Parks And Tourism Agency (ECPTA) was enthusiastic about the idea, and after due process the AWT was given a 10 year concession to run the Leopard Trail in the Baviaanskloof World Heritage Site.

Fast forward to now, and the ECPTA has raised the funds we need to build overnight huts on the Leopard Trail. The huts are a game changer for us in terms of making the project work. With huts we can target a much bigger market of hikers – not all hikers wanted to camp in tents, and hiking in winter now is a great option as the days are perfect for hiking and the huts will be warm at night. We reckon our hiking numbers will double once these are built.
We are ecstatic with this funding for the huts, as this makes it R4 million raised so far between the AWT and the ECPTA to launch the trail, and now build the huts.

We are now almost at the project total of R4.5 million– we are just R500k short. This last bit though is really vital, as it is for the reception building and restaurant at the start of the trail. This is a key component – the shop will sell community goods, and the restaurant will be licensed to a community team to operate. These bits are where the community really starts to benefit, and where the link between conservation and community opportunities becomes even more real.

So now we are very keen to raise this last R500k – thinking about it as only ten contributions of R50 000. If we can get ten people from our network of hikers to contribute, then this project is done. Though obviously we want to add significant value to those who are contributing to the project.

Which brings us to the Golden Tickets.

Good luck to the first ten lucky hikers to claim their ticket, and thanks for supporting the work of the Another Way Trust.